[Droogie]

i think it should.

1. its not as bad for your health as tobacco/alcohol (maybe i'm wrong, correct me if i am)
2. police hours spent on fighting this 'crime' that seemingly doesnt do much harm
3. govt tax revenue
4. drug (ab)users typically spend more time in prison than murderers and rapists
5. better quality draw

[Forgone Conclusion]

1 joint is worse for u than 1 cigarette, but u don't smoke like 20 joints in day do you?

Personally i'd legalise it, but i may be slightly biased in the matter

[Gabriel Synthesis]

is it because you're a hardcore pot head curt?

i think if it's legal then people won't make such a fuss over it, people won't go on drugs binges over the holidays etc.

for the same reason i think the drinking age should be lowered, firstly because kids can get their hands on alcohol if they really want to anyway and also because if it becomes an everyday sort of thing then it's just not such a big deal. taking france as an example, french kids start drinking at a much younger age but their binge drinking problems are nowhere near as big

[Droogie]

^^ yeh thats a good point.

but then again in france i dont think theres a legal age for smoking, and loads of people smoke in france. i'm not sure if its more than england though.

[Helen SD]

i think both cannabis and tobacco should be illegal.

[Gabriel Synthesis]

why?

apparently next year there will be a new cigarette on the market which is 90% less likely to give you cancer than ordinary cigarettes

is this a good or a bad idea?

[Forgone Conclusion]

It's a good idea, obviously.

If tobacco were to be made illegal, the government would lose billions of pounds in taxes, etc. I think that they actually make more money from them than they spend o treatment from the people who die from it (especially since they may have had to spend that money on them anyway since would have got some other disease has they not had cancer), so that ain't gonna happen

I don't think the drinking age should be lowred, but i think we should maybe have a more relaxed approach to drinking. Let young teens have a glass of wine witha meal every so often and stuff like that.

Also, if cannabis were legalised, i'd do it like in the Netherlands - with liscensed 'cafés' which have strict id checks, etc

[Droogie]

low-risk cigarettes are a bad idea unless the risks are significantly lower. i imagine if a brand is released advertising its lower risks etc most people would just end up thinking they can smoke more without harming their health.

[Forgone Conclusion]

Yes, that is the danger, but 90% is a fucking lot less, and I don't think it will have that effect. People know full well smoking is bad for them. They're not likely to smoke double the amount just coz it's half as bad for you

[where_i'm_calling_from]

i've been forced into the 'illegal' standpoint, purely on the virtue of the fact that so many idiot people want it legalised. but there aren't really many reasons why it should be illegal if things like tobacco are going to be legal.

but i guess my actual argument is that it wouldn't be as much fun if it were legal. i mean, drinking suddenly loses a great deal of its appeal once you turn 18...

[Droogie]

Forgone Conclusion, on Nov 6 2005, 08:04 PM, said:

Yes, that is the danger, but 90% is a fucking lot less, and I don't think it will have that effect. People know full well smoking is bad for them. They're not likely to smoke double the amount just coz it's half as bad for you

yeh i do think the ones rob mentioned would be good. i'm talking about your average "10% less nicotine - smoke your heart out" cigarettes.

i think that if anything tobacco should be illegal and cannibis legal. one joint may be worse than one cig but tobacco is much more addictive and you end up smoking bare every day (as curtis said). you dont smoke as much marijuana, firstly because it takes time to roll and secondly because one joint is enough to give a few people a good time.

This post has been edited by Droogie: 06 November 2005 - 08:37 PM

[Forgone Conclusion]

Yeah, fair enough on them. I wouldn't say their introduction was a bad thing, in balance, but still not amazing.

[where_i'm_calling_from]

you know in january its going to be illegal for foreigners to use hash bars in amsterdam and they will be exclusively for native use?

[Forgone Conclusion]

Is that just in amsterdam?

Also, by hash bars, do you mean bars of hash, or do u mean bars which sell cannabis?

[where_i'm_calling_from]

...i mean bars that sell marijuana. amsterdam is kinda famous for them. and as far as i know amsterdam is the only place where its legal/hash bars exist, so i think its just there. its in today's papers.

[Forgone Conclusion]

Really? It's just dam that has them? Didn't know that, though i suppose i've nver heard of them anywhere else in the country....

Well that's pretty shit....

[Droogie]

that sucks.

[Andrew]

That's why you go to Maastrict.

[Echoes]

i didn't know about the amsterdam thing

in my experience french people smoke like chimneys, but i think that's a cultural thing - after all, the chainsmoking frenchman/woman wouldnt be a stereotype if it was a purely recent thing. I'm not convinced a ban on smoking is particularly effective - if kids see 'cool' people smoking and think smoking therefore makes you cool, there's not much that'll stop them from getting cigarettes. They probably won't even enjoy the first one, but many go on and pick up a habit anyway. Sucks for them, but that's their choice.

As for marijuana, that's something I enjoy and i don't perceive as being as pointless as smoking - you get something in exchange for risking your health and spending your money (whether that's a fair perception or not).
I wouldn't particularly object to its illegality though, if it weren't for the total hypocrisy of allowing alcohol, a far greater danger to your own and others' health; generally a much bigger scourge on society. For that reason I voted to legalise it: marijuana doesnt impact many other than the user, its a decision for you to take. Not always the case when you get hit by a drunk driver or attack by a pissed tramp.

[Gabriel Synthesis]

driving on the effects of 1 joint is as bad as driving having drunk 8 pints